NEW PAINTING CHALLENGE!! Version Two painted in 2015

This is refreshingly beautiful Thea. Well done.

Thank you very much, Kal. I think you are new to the site so probably don't know much about the 'challenges'. We had one before Christmas as a bit of fun to paint using only one line and not looking at the paper until the drawings was finished. It produced some startling results. Some of us are a bit hooked on challenges now and I have been asked to come up with a new one, which what this one is all about. I have long wondered if one can chart progress, so repeating an old painting seemed one way of looking at this. Hopefully, we will see a few more if anyone else picks up the baton.

Yes, Thea - I'm new. Thanks for the background info. I have only been painting for a month now so will opt out of this "challenge".

Oh go on, Kal - you get to know a lot of fun people on the gallery this way. No one is remotely judgmental about the challenges - we all just enjoy extending our repertoire. By the way, I can't believe you have only been painting a month - all your work is really wonderful.

My goodness Thea, you've certainly come a long way! The first pepper is ok but if I'm honest, it's just a pepper, not terribly exciting. Now, that elusive excitement has arrived. So much life in this one and I agree that you had to add more, not just a solitary pepper! The progress is so interesting to see. A real learning curve and a lesson to be learned in that we all have to start somewhere and then move on which you have done in spades!!

Thank you Louise, it is interesting to have a visual reference to show progress. Come on now, girl - dig that painting out and have a go - I would love to see the difference. I can remember a lot of your work when you first joined the site and it has changed so much and improved out of all recognition although the first works you posted were pretty damned good back then. Dig back even further and bring out the skeletons in your art closet, lol!

Lovely depiction Thea. I am viewing them out of order I think

Smashing idea Thea, might take it up, problem is can't remember what my first painting was, will ponder or come up with something from the past

Well Thea, now you've done it. My very first painting at the first class I went to 8 years ago is really terrible. I don't know if I dare post it, in fact I'd often thought I should bin it but something made me hang on to it, your challenge perhaps! I will give this challenge a go but may use a different early painting. I've got a busy week or two so may not get time for a while. Your style today is much more vibrant, exciting and interesting than the earlier version but that was very competent for a beginner!

Thank you Derek,, Dennis and Christine. We all start painting and things change so slowly that it is hard to chart progress anda change of style - a bit like your children growing up - you hardly notice until one day one of them is taller than you! I had been mulling over how my mindset about painting had changed and it really has. In my youth, I loved pen and wash - couldn't really do it, but I was definitely drawn to it. However, when I started watercolour painting in 2008, I spent the first years doing nothing but landscapes, then moved on to do some portraits, then still life - all drawn with a pencil and then painted. I have been through painting in layers and washes to painting by the direct method - one hit and hope you get it right first time. I then discovered a couple of artists who painted in styles that appealed to me so I had a go at that. Gradually, I started to develop a 'style' ,if we can ever call it that as this appears to mean that it is something static and unchanging, which it is not. Then I started to dabble once again in pen and wash work which led on to the one liners. Now, I feel I have returned to my roots by using the pen, but have developed my painting in the process so I can bring a new slant to it. It will all change again, that I am sure of and perhaps I will periodically repeat a painting I have done before in my latest method and style to see what has changed. Christine and Derek, I look forward to seeing your results! I don't think it is necessary to pick the very first painting you did (I was just lucky that I had kept mine - it nearly got binned) but perhaps pick the earliest one that you feel like having another go at. I bet you will be surprised how things have change - I certainly was.

Your transparent colours work so well here. What were you saying about digging out your old paintings? So long as you don't want us to actually show them, eh? Re-working them, taking into account what one has learned since, though - yes: that's interesting. In fact, I have done that - I've just not (wickedly) acknowledged it. It's interesting, because I've been digging through my old sketchbooks; there are many drawings I simply didn't feel confident about turning into paintings - I couldn't 'see' the painting in the drawing: now, I so often can see things that weren't obvious at the time. And that's really very handy, because I can't really get out into the countryside and paint from life any more - but I have a few dozen sketchbooks, with an average of 50 drawings in each... these will keep me going until I fall off my perch, I expect. Old age has its compensations .....

Wow, Thea, what a difference! Louise has said it so well that there is no need for me to try to repeat it. Of course we all progress and get better with our art, styles change and we start using different mediums too. This new challenge is very exiting and I can't wait to see what will pop up. I started my journey 34 years ago in an art school in Paris and I think that I've got one or two paintings left from those days. Will certainly have a look but it's a bit scary if I realise that I haven't improved at all! Thank you for the new challenge!

Fantastic still life Thea.... I'll think about the challenge :)

Robert, dig out your old paintings and have a go at doing them again - that's the idea of the challenge - a bit like measuring your learning curve. Could be fun. Satu, thank you - I, like you, had a bit of trepidation about having another go at a first painting as what if I hadn't progressed at all?? Or even gone backwards!! Oh - the shame, lol! Still, I bravely dug my painting out and did my updated version and I am glad I did because I can see that I have learnt more about watercolour, so that has been a boost to my confidence. Look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Thank you Petra - what did you think of the first one I did? I never used to be one to challenge myself, but I think Louise's gung ho attitude has finally rubbed off on me and I now love to take up the baton and show a bit of gung ho myself.

Great painting - great idea - might look up some of my very old stuff and have a go.

This is as nice and fresh as your vegetables look Thea! Another lovely addition to your gallery. At the beginning of the year I cleared out some of my old watercolours. It made a lovely bonfire but there was one that was worth keeping and I added some fresher colour to it which made it look so much better.

This is lovely work, Thea! Simple yet beautifully luminescent. The contrast of the brightly colored veggies with the subtle tones of the garlic work really well.

Wow what a difference 7 years make!! No comparison between the two except to say there is a yellow pepper in both! Another good challenge, I have a lot on at the moment but I will try and take part!

Fresh and lovely as always, Thea!

Thea isn't feeling too good at the moment and has asked me to thank you for all your comments.

Hello Thea, thank you for your message which you left me. I'm so very, very sorry for your loss. Please don't worry about commenting on any POL posts. You should never feel obliged to comment on anyone's paintings, especially right now. You are in my thoughts and prayers. Please take care.of yourself first and foremost. The rest can wait.

That's terrible news. My sincere condolences. Take care and take your time coming back to inspire us all.

Thank you so much Seok - such kind words.

Thank you very much Gudrun - I will be back very soon - probably after the funeral when one just has to try and get on with life.

Love this Thea .......full of vitality and colour. Spectacular evolution with more to come!

hi Thea this is a lovely fresh piece full of beautiful colour . I haven't seen you on the gallery for a while I hope your okay . I cant remember my early pictures I used to draw portraits out of newspapers when I was a young boy that was in the 50s . I used to draw like a photograph then indeed that was my aim to make the painting look like a photo , now I try not to make it look like a photo , how times change . I look forward to seeing more of your paintings sdoon Thea take care .

Thea when I wrote the message above . I didn't know you had a loss im very sorry , I shall think of you thea . I just noticed you were not on the gallery . I look forward to seeing you back Thea but take care meanwhile .

Dennis, thank you firstly for your kind comment on my painting. Thank you also for you kind wishes about the loss of my brother. I have been off the gallery since it happened on 9th February. The funeral is finally talking place this Monday coming, so hopefully I will gather myself together after that is over and get back on track with my painting and also back on POL. It has been a very difficult time and I just couldn't seem to settle down to any work, so rather than force things I thought I would just wait until I felt like putting something down on paper again.

Take your time Thea , and when you feel able then come back . I know all the pol people will be thinking of you , you are a very well liked lady . Take care meanwhile .

Dennis - thank you for such kindness. I feel quite over- whelmed by it and I want you to know that it makes a real difference at this difficult time. Take care, Thea.

Excellent work Thea , reminds me of a Charles Reid style painting .

I have always admired your style Thea and these two are great. I donot do mych watercolour my right hand tends to be a bit wobbly at times - hence the pencils.

Lovely work Thea, and some good ideas for 'challenges'.

Dear Thea, This is such a lovely fresh painting. Thank you very much for your kind comments on my postcard pictures, much appreciated. Hope you are feeling the effects of Spring and comforted by it. I enjoyed the last episode of the Big Watercolour Challenge yesterday and I think the right person won. Hope you have a good painting week! ??